


Joining the party (FFXIVWrite2020 Day 30 - Splinter)

by Ivelia



Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [30]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:55:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26749144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivelia/pseuds/Ivelia
Summary: Part of my attempt for #FFXIVWrite2020 - September 30 (Day 30 - Splinter)At the end of the journey, a new beginningSpoiler for 5.3, please read at your own discretion!
Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1906951
Kudos: 3





	Joining the party (FFXIVWrite2020 Day 30 - Splinter)

The window of the Personal Suites in the Pendants offered a clear view of the Lakeland skies. The limitless blue, interspersed with lazily floating skies, was something that Arbert had missed for the last century, but now, they were back for good. Finally, his duty was done; his world was  _ saved, _ and although he thought his part had not been that great, that was all that counted. He didn’t understand everything about these stories of worlds being sundered and rejoined, but… Even if, for some, this place was nothing but a small, insignificant splinter of a greater part,  _ it still deserved to live. _ And he was grateful to those who helped save it.

Ages ago now, he had started as a random adventurer, wanting to see the wider world, wanting to reach out and help others, almost out of instinct. It had been a long journey, meeting Lamitt, Branden, Renda-Rae, Nyelbert, Seto, and even Cylva, and countless others; travelling all over Norvrandt and beyond, saving the world, and in this way, destroying it, before saving it again, temporarily, and  _ once more, this time for good. _ Maybe in a few more centuries, these lands blighted by the Light would recover and bloom, slowly returning to prosperity… But he wouldn’t be there to witness it. He sighed.

\- “This is the end of my story.” It was a bit melancholic, but it was time for him to depart for his  _ final voyage. _ _ How, _ though, he wasn’t sure. A dry voice interrupt his thoughts:

\- “What are rambling about?” It was the Warrior of Darkness, or rather, the Source’s current Warrior of Light, who was currently huffing and puffing as she fought to pack most of the extra stuff she had lying around the Suite and clean the place from top to bottom. With the recent turn of events, she wouldn’t be staying around here as often, so it made sense to tidy everything up. “I know you can’t help me with this since you don’t have physical hands”, she grumbled “but I’d really appreciate it, if you refrained from spewing ominous bullshite while I’m making an effort here”. 

She seemed to be apathy incarnate, as always, but he knew better by now. He had always felt that they had a lot in common, but in the beginning, he thought that it probably because they were both heroes: saving the orphan and widow, killing world ending menaces, ferrying poop for villagers were staples of the job. Never would he have thought that this familiarity was because they were, in some way, the same person. So when he proffered his axe to help her, it was both just to help a friend in need, and to save their worlds, while they were at it; he wasn’t thinking of anything like  _ provoking a forceful partial rejoining of their souls _ or something.

Even at this point, he still had trouble wrapping his head around the whole concept. After all, they had very different personalities. Although the ultimate failure of his quest, and haunting this devastated world for a century might have made him a little bit weary, he was a long way from being as  _ jaded  _ as she was. She was hailed as being the  _ seven times rejoined incarnation of Hope, _ but compared to him, looked like the only thing that was rejoined was aloofness. Though, after observing her for a while, he could tell that, while he himself was like a warm hearth in a house, she was more like the cold stone walls that would silently protect people from the elements. Once one got to know her, she was a pretty nice person.

\- “Wherever I go, I’ll miss you, too!” he told her, touching his nose in an embarrassed manner, his voice a bit stifled by emotion. 

\- “What. The. Hell. are you on?” she deadpanned.

\- “I mean... Isn’t it the time for me to dissolve into particles of light after saying my tearful goodbyes…?” He wasn’t really sure of how all of this worked. Why he had still retained his sense of self and a corporeal appearance until now, and all of these complicated questions… He had never been the brain of the team, more like its warm, beating,  _ beating stuff up _ heart, so he usually left thinking and complicated theories to the others. But for her, this question was enough for her to connect the dots and see what was the issue. It was a bit annoying that even with someone that was somewhat yourself, this type of miscommunication was still possible.

\- “… You’re coming with me. Aren’t you?” It was more an affirmation than an interrogation. He could see in her pale pink orbs that she was absolutely certain of this fact, and would not tolerate any deviation from this plan. He still failed to understand:

\- “Eh? But, there are no risks of the light running amok, or something… Why?” Why would she bring him around? She offered a rare smile:

\- “Don’t you want to see the  _ wider _ world?” A proposal of adventure. Discovering new things to see, new people to meet and help, new threats to beat up… Of course he wanted to, more than anything! Even as a passive spectator, he  _ wanted to _ ! But… 

\- “Nah… This.. it’s your part to play.” His time... had been long over.

\- “Tsk. What, you’d rather stay here and aimlessly haunt this place?” Her short, mocking laugh taunted him: “This is not your style. Not  _ our _ style” He  _ knew  _ that as well as she did, but... “As long as you’re not backseat adventuring, or peeking at  _ things you shouldn’t peek at, _ or talking of  _ things you shouldn’t talk about, _ ” her tone seemed somewhat menacing for a second, “I don’t see why you wouldn’t come.” She turned away from him, adding in an almost inaudible voice: “Adventuring with friends is kinda nice.” He could have sworn he saw something looking like a blush furtively passing on her face. How strange. She didn’t give of the feeling that the room was too hot or too cold earlier? Before he could delve deeper on this, she turned back to him, offering her fist as she smiled overbearingly: “It’s not like I’m asking you your opinion anyway. We’re in this  _ together. _ ” He smiled, bumping her fist in return:

\- “Ok, I’ll trouble you with this, then!” They stayed like this for a few seconds, harmoniously smiling at each other, until she remembered  _ something _ , and the friendly gesture turned into her gripping his wrist into a deadly, painful grip. Although he technically had no wrist and could feel no pain.

\- “Also, the next time you’re pulling faces behind people when they’re talking to me, I’ll get Urianger to find me a piece of white auracite or something~” Her not-really-a-smile expression was  _ scary, _ and he could only try to pacify her -they’d better stay in good terms if they were to be stuck  _ together  _ for the foreseeable future.

\- “Ah, that... ” He sheepishly apologized: “Sorry, that was too tempting. My bad.” Her serious face, repressing twitches oscillating between laughing from his antics and rushing out to punch him, had been quite hilarious to him… Was having no humor an Elven racial trait or something?

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaand Done \o/  
> I thought I'd die xD But I did it in the end, all 30 entries, and not even one late! (better than my track record at work lolololol)  
> Thank you to MoenMoen for hosting this \o/  
> And thank you to anyone that manage to stomach this (or part of it)\o/ I hope you found some enjoyment in this \o/


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